


Once Upon A Time...

by Shugarplumps



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 06:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7673011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shugarplumps/pseuds/Shugarplumps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Okay, to explain. This is for ask-fe13-generics on Tumblr, about the Awakening generic enemies! It's a pretty great blog, and I like it, so I did my best to write something cool for it! It's... alright, I guess.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Once Upon A Time...

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, to explain. This is for ask-fe13-generics on Tumblr, about the Awakening generic enemies! It's a pretty great blog, and I like it, so I did my best to write something cool for it! It's... alright, I guess.

The town's pub wasn't extensive, but some ale with some ice was all Thief was looking for anyway. As he stepped inside, the wooden floorboards creaked under his heavy boots. He glanced around the room, and caught the sight of wooden tables, a wooden counter, and a total of seven people. Two at one table, three at another, a woman behind the counter, and a man sitting in front of said counter.

The thing was, as he watched one of the men at the tables smack a hand of cards down, causing his two companions to groan, Thief noticed the man sitting at the counter. He walked from the door, passing the couple at a table that were chatting as they shared some bread.

Pulling his hood from his head, Thief slid into the seat next to the man, who twisted the neck of a bottle absentmindedly. Two other empty ones sat on his left, and Thief saw only a third of the drink was left in the one he was spinning around against the ringed wooden surface.

"I didn't know you were a drinker." Thief spoke up, and the other immediately froze, glancing up and turning to him. Seems sitting down wasn't enough to catch his attention the first time, but now, Dark Mage met his gaze. The only difference was Thief's was smugger then Dark Mage's shocked one. 

"T-Thief?! What are you doing here?" He asked, surprise in his voice. Thief let out a low laugh, leaning against the counter. "I like drinking. I enjoy some drinks time and again. Sorry." He chuckled, and Dark Mage continued to blink at him. 

Then, he glanced away, looking back to the mostly empty bottle that he continued to spin around. Thief rolled his eyes, "Give it a skirt if you're gonna keep twirling it." He said, gesturing a hand towards the drink. Dark Mage rubbed his face with his own hand, and Thief sighed, thinking about what to say in this situation.

"...drink for your thoughts?" He offered, and Dark Mage glanced back to him. Thief smiled, turning to the barmaid nearby and holding up two fingers. The blonde woman smiled and turned to get the drinks. Thief looked back to Dark Mage, and leaned against the wooden counter, crossing his legs. "Alright boy. I bought you a drink, you better tell me what's going on in that head of yours. And please don't let it be magic related."

Dark Mage drank the last of the bottle he was fiddling with, and set it to the side. "Well... W-Well..." He paused, thinking about what to say. "...do you ever think about... uh..." 

"What? Death?" Thief took a shot in the dark, "I mean yeah sometimes. It comes to all of us, and the whole thing about fighting and morality and stuff, I'm over it, so if you've got some questions I can -"

"N-No, no, no..." Dark Mage interrupted him, "I meant... do you ever think about how we got here? About all the stuff that happened that lead here? Like think about back when we were kids and think about how we changed all that time...?" 

Thief thought about it as the maiden set their drinks down in front of them, "Not often." He admitted, taking his drink and nudging the other towards Dark Mage. "Though... Believe me, it was another time back then." 

Dark Mage looked up from his drink and over to the man sitting next to him. "Like how?" He asked, seeming to be interested.

Thief hesitated for just a moment. "...like I didn't have my awesome beard." He answered, taking a swing of his drink. The comment seemed to make Dark Mage smile just a bit, but he looked back down to his drink, taking a small sip.

"...I wasn't much different then how I was as a kid... I practically still am a kid. B-But I was sent to this 'School of Magic'. It seemed like this place where mages would send their kids if they didn't want to deal with them anymore... Plus, it was a sucky school! They didn't teach us anything useful! They taught us how to best use tomes to be able to use them the longest, but they were completely wrong! If they knew what they were doing, then-"

"Shhh!" The card players at the table nearby shot his way, and Dark Mage stopped, growing red as he took a long, drawn out drink. "S-Sorry..." He spoke, his voice quieter. "So, anyway... My dad sent me to a school of magic...."

_He tightened the band around his long, frizzy hair, staring down at the tome set in front of him. Reaching down, he ran his fingers across the cover and felt the details against his pale skin. He felt the power that was between the covers. The power that he could try and tap into and use._

_"Now, kids, I would like you to use these tomes to create a ball in your hand of the energy they hold."_

_He looked back down to the tome on the desk, and slowly picked it up. It felt foreign, yet familiar in his hands. He did come from a line of mages, after all... Slowly, he flipped the cover over and looked at the pages inside._

_It looked as if each page had been hand written, the ink that everything was written in was dried, including the spots of ink gone rogue that dotted the space between the words. He took the time to notice all this, while other kids already began struggling to compete the assigned task._

_As he stared at the book in his hands, he thought about how to use the tome. He placed his free hand just above the first page, and he closed his eyes. He tried to do everything his teacher taught him before - feel the power, take the power, use the power._

_He focused. He focused as much as he could, trying to think of how he's done this all those times before. He took the potential in the book and focused on moving it towards his hovering hand. Suddenly, he heard a cackle, and he looked down._

_The edges of the page turned black and began to curl, spots of the page began to eat away with a burning red. He smiled to himself, watching the page burn away, and the page floated into his hand, bursting into a small flame. Turning his hand upwards, he watched the flame flicker in his palm._

_He did it. He did it! Of course, he wasn't the first one, but he actually did it! Whoa! He wondered if -_

_"DUDE!"_

_The shout in his ear rung, and he turned to the boy who sat next to him. He expected him to be freaking over having made a flame in his hand too, but he saw the other leaning away and staring at him._

_"W-What?!"_

_"Your... Your hair!"_

_Yeah, his hair was long, but - Just then, he felt the heat at the back of his head. Clenching his hand into a fist, the flame vanished as he reached back to his ponytail, only for his hands to feel the same heat._

_He stood up, now in a panic, causing his chair to topple over. Everyone stared at him, but he stared at the desk in front of him as he began to frantically pat the back of his head to try and put at the fire he knew was there. He could feel it against his head, licking his dark hair._

_His hands weren't seeming to do very much... It was about that time he wished that there was such a thing as a water tome, but he'd never heard of or seen one before. Though, he suddenly heard a sharp cutting sound, and the heat vanished away._

_Looking to the sides he saw his teacher with a wind tome in their hands, a hand tossed his way. He looked to the ground, and saw his dark hair on the floor, still hot with flames. He pounded his boot against it until it was nothing more than dark ash._

_"...sorry." Came a casual voice from behind him, the boy who sat at the desk directly behind his was glancing to the side. He swore he saw a held back smile on his face._

_After that, he never had his hair long again._

"...the only guy I could remotely call my friend was some insane kid." Dark Mage said, tossing his empty bottle with the rest. "He was ridiculous. Talked to birds or something... I don't even know where he is these days. Probably dead... And no, no, that's hardly the only or worst thing that happened to me at that school!"

_At the top of the building, he sat with a wind tome, throwing blades out into the sky above him. He watched the wind he threw vanish into the pale blue sky that peeked out from the grey clouds that passed overhead._

_Classes were over for the day, so he was simply wasting time until dinner and then he was probably going to return and waste more time before curfew. It was what he usually did, anyway. But his roommate, a healer, would probably make him wash up instead of more practice after dinner._

_As he thought about this, he only snapped out of it when he realized he was just standing there in the spring wind. Casting another spell, he watched it before it dissapeared into the wind around him._

_Then, he suddenly heard a step from the staircase behind him. Turning around, he wondered if it was a teacher. They weren't happy he hung out up on the roof all the time. Though, he didn't see anything. He stood and waited for another step, but he didn't hear any other one._

_Turning around again, he suddenly heard rapid steps next to him, and turned just in time to see the buffest guy in their class run at him and pick him up. Though, he was also his roommate. The healer who was kind of a jerk with a heart of bronze, maybe._

_"H-Hey!" He stuttered, dropping his tome and trying to reach for it. He was lifted higher, and he watched other people approach him. A girl and two other boys._

_"Hey, do you know the tradition?" The young girl asked, and he blinked in confusion, which was obvious on his face. She and another boy laughed. "See, I told you he would be perfect for this!"_

_"W-What's happening?!" He asked, and his roommate chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll save the homework for you."_

_Then, the girl placed a hand on his arm, and he only briefly caught glimpse of a yellow book before pain rushed through him, and he passed out completely._

_..._

_When he woke up, it was dark. Really, really dark. And cold. The moon was the only light around, and he tried to adjust to such low levels of light, but it took a minute._

_Soon, he found out he was leaned against a tall tree. Surrounded by other trees. So, he was in a forest. The entire school was surrounded by them, after all. He could be anywhere,he thought as he leaned back against the tree._

_He felt something next to him, and he grabbed it gently and held it up to the moonlight that streamed through the leaves. It was a tome, one with a purple cover and a strange symbol. He'd never seen it before, but he knew that if it was a tome, he'd need it._

_If he had to take a guess, there wasn't going to be any kind of rescue team for him. He was on his own, with this strange tome, and he had to get back to the school. His body ached, and he was scared, but he held the tome close to him, and he began to walk._

"It took me... I dunno, it took me a while to get back..." Dark Mage admitted with a sigh, staring at the counter. "When I did, I refused to use any other tome then the one I had. The purple one that kept me alive for the most part... Which is why I'm a Dark Mage, y'know?"

He rubbed his face with his hand, "It was aparently a tradition to throw a kid into the woods with a random tome to see if they could make it back... But hey, my roommate did save me the homework I missed..."

Thief took another sip of his drink, and then let out a low whistle. "I take it you haven't enjoyed any school reunions, huh?"

"Reunions?! I never want to see any of my class again, they're all horrible people!" He said, throwing his mostly empty fifth drink down against the counter with a small thud. Thief was sure he was pretty drunk to be like this.

"I also guess that you don't usually tell those stories to anyone." Thief offered, and Dark Mage took the final swing of the drink he had.

"I don't usually tell those stories. I don't usually drink. I don't usually have horribly bad days!" He slurred slightly, throwing his hands into the air. 

"Bad day? Why don't you talk to Mage about it? Aren't you two like soul mates or something?" He asked, and Dark Mage scratched at the wood of the counter in front of him. "He just... wouldn't get it, okay?"

Thief sighed, "Well.... Back when I was a kid, back when I didn't have my super cool beard and before I was a pretty good thief if I say so myself - I was a kid who lived with his foster family."

_The room was lit by a crystal chandelier overhead, and everyone who was lit by the gentle light of the burning candles shining through the clear gems was dressed equally as fancy. Women in dresses, and men in vests and suits. Warm wind floats in from an open window, letting out the sounds of gentle conversation._

_A boy in a fancy vest, a white dress shirt and clean and particularly brushed and set hair stood nearby, leanin against the wall and eyeing everyone and everything in the room. Men and women both danced and talked to one another, and few noticed the teenage boy against the wall._

_He had his arms crossed across his chest, and he smiled to himself as he felt the bumps under his right sleeve. A long string of pearls that were taken from a woman he'd danced with earlier that night. She hardly noticed as he twirled her around. It seems she still hadn't notice, which made him one smug kid._

_The room was nothing but rich people in rich clothing doing rich things. Not really his crowd, but the one he was instead dragged into. It was obvious he didn't want to be at. The formal gathering, and he stared out the open window into the streets below. The shadowed streets with people still gathered in them, taking in hushed voices about things unknown._

_Suddenly, a high squeal came from behind him. He glanced back, only to see the girl he'd been dancing with before in a panic, staring at where he necklace had been. He mumbled a curse to himself, shaking his sleeve and feeling the pearls bounce against the fabric that pressed against his skin._

_As soon as she said she was missing her necklace, his adoptive parents glanced to him. He turned away, staring out the window. He heard steps approach him, and he glanced to see his Father staring his down. After a moment, he sighed, reaching into his sleeve and pulling out the rack of pearls._

_He hated how they knew. But they should've expected this when they adopted a kid from the streets. His parents were street merchants, and he grew up in the gutters. The necklace as taken from him, and he glanced back out into the streets below. These... fancy parties. He hated them. The only good part was stealing stuff from them._

_After all, he still had that small painting in his cuff to take from this one._

_When he returned to the large practically castle of a building he had to call "home", he headed back upstairs to his own personal room, taking off the fancy vest and pulling the painting from his cuff._

_He unfolded it and tossed it into the pile of things he'd collected. He kept it all in a small hole that was covered by his wardrobe. It would sit there with the other items he'd taken - a porcelain doll, a small music box which only half worked anymore, a feather that just looked really cool, among other things - and now a crinkled painting of the sea._

_As the boy pushed his wardrobe back into place, he sighed to himself. He hated this life. He'd rather be down in the streets, doing what he does best. And what he does best is in fact NOT small talk and slow dancing and trading. What he does best is steal. Steal things. Take things from others without permission._

_A candle lit his darkened room, repealling the shadows around him that grasped onto him. He looked around, and he looked to his open window that creaked with the warm summer breeze. He could live off of stealing, couldn't he? He'd been doing that for a while now, but he wasn't a very good Robin Hood._

_He stole from the rich and gave to, well... the rich._

_Thinking about it another moment, he decided he wasn't going to live like this anymore. He was a street urchin, not some frazzled and dazzled richy. Grabbing a blanket from his bed and a sack of gold coins, he tucked it all under his arm and took the candle in his room._

_The room was left dark as he climbed down the walls, ran through the streets, and went to the tailor. She made his blanket into a cloak, and he paid her with all the hold he had brought._

_"But why?" She'd asked as he put the cloak on. He smiled over to her._

_"I'm living how I was supposed to live. Lost in the streets of the city."_

"And so, I started living in the shadows of that city instead. My parents weren't around anymore, so that's where I was really meant to be, right? Some orphan on the street." Thief said, taking a sip of his drink. Dark Mage had been listening closely to his story. 

"You used to be rich?!" He asked, obviously surprised. "Now you real are Robin Hood... Since you count as being poor now..." Theif chuckled, taking the bottle of alchohol from Dark Mage's hands. He reached out to take it back, but Thief saw how drunk he'd gotten.

"Kid, we're going back to camp, alright?" Thief said, and after a moment Dark Mage nodded. Thief nodded back with a smile. "Give me one sec. Nature calls, after all." He said, walking away. Only a few minutes later he returned, only to find that Dark Mage had passed out at the counter.

"Sorry, ma'am." Thief said to the barmaid, who simply smiled. "C'mon, back to camp we go, bud." He spoke to Dark Mage as he slipped his hands under his legs and on his back and picked him up. The three that were cleaning up a deck of red cards watched him kick the door open and step outside, trekking back to camp with the passed out Dark Mage in tow.

When he arrived, he walked to one of the tents by the edge of camp, and kicked the flap with his foot. "Hey! Hey Mage! Get out here!" He called, soon hearing shuffling from inside. Eventually, the flap opened and Mage stepped out, still wearing his large hat as always. 

"Yeah?"

"Hey, I found your boyfriend passed out at the pub." Thief said, holding up Dark Mage in his arms. Mage raised an eyebrow, "Well... He doesn't usually get drunk, especially to this point." The two traded the items in their arms - Mage giving up the empty space for Thief's pale magic man. 

"Do you know why he got like this?" Mage asked, and Thief looked at the pale face of Dark Mage, his head facing the shadowed woods around them. That was the same man, Thief reminded himself, that just told him drunken stories because of some horrible day... After a moment, he shrugged. "Nope. He was like that when I found him." Flipping his hood up, he turned away and began to head that direction.

"Have a nice night."


End file.
